Thief Emperor

Chapter 983 You're in trouble!

On the night that the emperor stayed at the Zheng family's, the Zheng family offered several women to sleep with him, but the emperor was a little tired after traveling for several days, so he did not accept any of them.

The next day, the head of the Zheng family wanted to offer his legitimate daughter to serve the emperor. The emperor personally took a look at the appearance of the Zheng family's legitimate daughter, and then the emperor, who had never been interested in women, righteously rejected the Zheng family.

On the afternoon of the second day, another document was delivered from Luoyang City. Tan Heng, the deputy of the Jingzhao Division, brought the document from the Jiusi Division all the way to the emperor and bowed his head to the emperor and said, "Your Majesty, this is an urgent letter from the Jingzhao Division."

This time when the Emperor left the capital, he did not bring Meng Hai, who had always followed him. After all, when the emperor left the imperial capital, someone was needed to keep an eye on the capital for him. The Jingzhao Division was naturally the most suitable person for the role. Therefore, Tan Heng, the deputy, accompanied the emperor out of the capital.

His Majesty the Emperor was looking through the documents sent back from the northern front. Hearing this, he looked up at Tan Heng and asked, "What happened again?"

Tan Heng bowed his head deeply and said, "The two assistant ministers of the Ministry of Rites have been arrested by Prime Minister Du and the people of Jingzhao Prefecture. The rest of the people involved in the Ministry of Rites are still under investigation."

He bowed his head and said, "Among these documents, there is a document that Prime Minister Du asked the Nine Departments to send to Your Majesty, and there is also a document of apology that Prime Minister Tao asked the Nine Departments to send to Your Majesty."

Upon hearing this, Emperor Li couldn't help but sigh and said, "I have been in the capital for such a long time, and I have lived peacefully. I have only been away for a few days, and the case is almost solved."

"All right."

His Majesty the Emperor looked at Tan Heng and continued, "Put down the document."

Tan Heng nodded and said yes. Just as he was about to leave, he was stopped by Li Yun. Emperor Li looked at him and told him, "Send a message to Prime Minister Du, and tell him to handle it with full authority. If he can handle it, execute him immediately. If he can't handle it, lock him up in the Dali Temple prison. I will deal with them all when I return to Luoyang."

Tan Heng quickly bowed his head and responded. Just as he was about to leave, he heard the Emperor ask again, "When will Zhuo Guangrui arrive in Xingyang?"

Tan Heng said quickly, "Your Majesty, Prime Minister Zhuo had received the news five days ago. It is estimated that Prime Minister Zhuo will be able to come to Xingyang to welcome you tomorrow."

Before Li Yun left Luoyang, he sent a letter to Zhuo Guangrui, who was still providing relief in the disaster area, asking him to come to greet him and then inspect the disaster area together. At this time, Zhuo Guangrui was on his way to Luoyang.

Emperor Li heard this and nodded slightly: "Okay, I understand."

"Go down and tell Meng Hai to put more thought into it."

"Yes."

Tan Heng bowed his head deeply and said, "I obey your command."

After he left, the emperor asked his men to invite Yao Zhong to come over. After Yao Zhong arrived, Li Yun handed him the document sent by Meng Qing at the front line, and then said with a smile: "Meng Qing has controlled Yuguan Pass and has already divided some troops to go outside the pass. This is a great thing. You should immediately draft a document in my name and order all the prefectures and counties in Hebei Province to fully support the Northern Expedition Army."

"Also, issue an imperial decree to General Deng Yang of Taiyuan, asking him to allocate 20,000 troops to Youzhou to block the Khitans in Youzhou and Jizhou to prevent them from escaping."

At this point, His Majesty the Emperor knocked on the table and continued, "Also, these Khitans... can surrender."

The last large-scale war fought by the Tang army was the Battle of Guanzhong. At that time, in order to establish his authority and punish the Shuofang Army, Li Yun fought the Battle of Guanzhong very fiercely and gave the Shuofang Army almost no chance to surrender.

More than half of the 70,000 to 80,000 Shuofang troops died directly on the battlefield, and only those who completely laid down their arms and surrendered survived.

To this day, the surrendered Shuofang troops are still working as laborers near Luoyang, building the imperial mausoleum for the emperor, and have not been freed.

Emperor Li has not stopped punishing them.

Because of the Battle of Guanzhong, Li Yun deliberately added this sentence, because he knew that the fight with the Khitans could not be won in just one or two battles. Even if he won a great victory in this battle, the Khitans could not be killed by him in one blow.

Therefore, it was necessary to gather some Khitan surrendered soldiers and use them to train the Tang army's cavalry and familiarize themselves with the Khitan tribe outside the Great Wall.

So that in the future, more appropriate strategies can be adopted against the Khitan tribe.

Yao Zhong was undoubtedly a very capable prime minister. Before Li Yun finished speaking, he had already started to spread paper and grind ink. Not long after Emperor Li finished speaking, he had already written out two drafted and polished edicts. He blew the ink dry, held the edicts in his hands and handed them to Li Yun, bowing his head slightly and saying, "Your Majesty, please take a look."

Emperor Li took it, took a look at it, nodded with satisfaction, and said with a smile: "Just send it out like this."

Yao Zhong responded with a "yes", copied it again carefully, asked for the emperor's seal to stamp it, and then personally issued the edict.

After he finished his work, he returned to Li Yun to report to the emperor. Emperor Li praised him a few words, then told him about what happened in the capital. He smiled and asked, "Mr. Yao was also in Luoyang last year. Did you hear about this?"

Upon hearing this, Yao Zhong hurriedly shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, I am only doing my job. The imperial examination has nothing to do with the Secretariat."

"I, your humble servant, dare not interfere in the affairs of the imperial examination."

Li Yun looked at him and said with a smile: "I didn't say you interfered."

"Mr. Yao has been the prime minister for so long. People in the court say that he is a descendant of the Du and Yao families. How could Mr. Yao not know anything about such a big thing?"

Yao Zhong said solemnly, "Your Majesty, I was selected through the Jinling Literary Exam. I have little experience to begin with. I was promoted by Your Majesty to be able to serve in the court. I cannot be compared with Prime Minister Du at all."

"As for the case of cheating in the imperial examination, if I heard anything about it, I would report it to Your Majesty immediately. I would never dare to keep it to myself." Seeing him bowing respectfully, the Emperor shook his head and said with a smile, "We have been friends for so many years. I am just chatting with you in private. There is no need to be so reserved."

After saying this, the emperor knocked on the table and asked, "Sir, what do you think of Prime Minister Du's approach?"

Yao Zhong thought for a moment and said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, Prime Minister Du is half of my teacher. In terms of friendship, I should never speak ill of him behind his back. But this is a matter of state, and I am honored to be the Prime Minister. Since Your Majesty has asked, I can only answer truthfully."

"I think, Mr. Du..."

"It's still too lenient."

His Majesty the Emperor seemed to be thinking about something, and asked, "What if you were to preside over this matter, sir?"

Yao Zhong said without hesitation: "Your Majesty, I will definitely start a big prison."

He said sternly, "If we don't count the previous Jinling Literary Contest, last year's imperial examination was the third imperial examination since the founding of the new dynasty. In the third imperial examination, someone dared to manipulate it."

"If we don't deal with it strictly, where is the dignity of the country's law?"

"How should the rulers of the Tang Dynasty take the imperial examination seriously?"

Hearing him say this, the Emperor's eyes slightly changed. After a while, the Emperor spoke up and said, "Okay, here's your opinion, sir."

"I understand."

Yao Zhong bowed his head deeply and said, "I only have some ignorant opinions. If they are different from your majesty's, please don't blame me."

The emperor shook his head slightly and said, "I've already said it, it was just a private chat."

"That's all for today. You can go down and have a rest."

Yao Zhong quickly responded with a "yes", lowered his head and carefully retreated. When he pushed his way to the door, Mr. Yao turned around with a flashing look in his eyes.

He has been following the Emperor for so long that he has already grasped some of the Emperor's habits.

For example, the emperor’s self-proclaimed title.

The current emperor is not arrogant. When chatting privately, he usually refers to himself as "I". Only when discussing state affairs or in a serious occasion with too many people present, will he call himself "I".

Just now, although His Majesty was just chatting, he had already called me "I" several times.

illustrate…

Mr. Yao walked a few steps with his body bent, then he straightened up, put his hands behind his back, and looked up at the sky.

The poor second prime minister, whose hair was already somewhat gray, had a hint of a smile on his face.

"You are still from too high a family."

He shook his head and muttered to himself, his expression becoming somewhat cheerful.

"I was actually tripped up by those dry bones in the tomb."

…………

The next day, after providing disaster relief in the disaster area, Prime Minister Zhuo hurried to Xingyang to meet the emperor. After arriving in Xingyang, he did not dare to neglect it and hurried all the way to Zheng's house. After passing through layers of checkpoints, he finally met the emperor. Prime Minister Zhuo knelt in front of the emperor respectfully, kowtowed and said, "Your Majesty, Zhuo Guangrui."

"Kowtow to Your Majesty."

His Majesty the Emperor looked at him, told him to stand up, then took him to his temporary study in the Zheng family and dismissed the outsiders.

When they were the only two people left in the study, the Emperor narrowed his eyes, looked at Zhuo Guangrui, and asked, "What's the situation in the disaster area?"

Zhuo Guangrui said quickly: "The Ministry of Revenue has allocated one million strings of cash, which is enough. The main issue is the mobilization of food and grass. Fortunately, with the help of Lord Xue, food is not a big problem."

"Now, food for the people in the disaster area is no longer a problem. The problem is how to recover after the disaster. I am working with the local government..."

Before he could finish his words, he heard the Emperor say coldly.

"Mr. Zhuo, your case has been exposed. Do you know?"

(End of this chapter)